[R-G] By Land, Sea & Air - Operation Connection

[Anthony Fenton]

By Land, Sea & Air

The Grey Cup was delivered to Toronto by the Canadian Armed Forces as  
part of Operation Connection, a wide-ranging publicity and  
recruitment drive

Hollie Shaw, Financial Post  Published: Friday, November 30, 2007
Pg. FP7
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=133590&p=2

Nestled in the back of an inflatable boat, the Grey Cup arrived in  
Toronto last weekend.Brent Foster, National PostNestled in the back  
of an inflatable boat, the Grey Cup arrived in Toronto last weekend.

The Canadian Football League revealed its strong preference for green  
long before the Saskatchewan Rough-riders took home the Grey Cup last  
weekend.

The conspicuous presence of the Canadian military during every step  
of Grey Cup week in Toronto reached a zenith at the annual football  
championship as TV viewers and fans at the Rogers Centre stadium were  
treated to a low-level flyover by a CF-18 Hornet fighter jet, a 100- 
person guard firing ceremonial rifles, a Canadian Forces pipe and  
drum band, a demonstration by the Snowbirds air squadron and the  
presence of on-field military personnel to escort the Grey Cup trophy  
to the field and perform such grunt work such as dismantling stages.

Outside the Rogers Centre, camouflage-clad soldiers handed dog tags,  
footballs and rubber wrist bands to fans at a display that included  
tanks, aircraft, medic tents and the world's largest Support Our  
Troops banner.

The show of military pride comes as the Canadian Forces attempts to  
enhance its image and recruit more members, an effort which started  
in earnest last year with an aggressive ad campaign, a slick new Web  
site and an outreach program bringing military personnel to seven of  
the biggest crowd-drawing events across Canada.

"The military has an increased budget and is on a major recruiting  
drive and the CFL is trying to appeal to a younger audience," said  
Rob Wilson, a marketing professor at Ryerson University's school of  
business management who attended the event Sunday night. "Those  
elements work together."

Moreover, football's heady mix of testosterone and patriotism appeals  
to the very youths the military wants to recruit, said Garo  
Keresteci, president of Fuse Marketing in Toronto.

"Is there a link between the gladiators fighting it out on the  
football field and a military message -- well, someone is likely  
making that [link]," he said. "If you watch American football, you  
see the military has a very obvious presence in the games, and it is  
more active when the country is at war."

Such sporting events as the Grey Cup are also "a great way to get a  
large number of viewers" at a time when the audience is fragmenting,  
he said.

In 2006, the federal government budgeted $5.3-billion over five years  
for the Department of National Defence to add to military ranks.  
Given that the primary target group for recruiting is 18 to 24 years  
old, the military buys ad space at such sporting events as the Grey  
Cup because the viewers and attendees typically fall into that group,  
said National Defence officials.

Grey Cup advertising investment cost $280,000.

But perhaps even more crucial to augmenting the Forces' profile and  
public image is a program begun last year dubbed Operation  
Connection. It puts military displays and soldiers on the ground at  
large public events.

Not recruitment drives per se, the outings are a way to introduce the  
soldiers to average Canadians in a context of spirited, team-related  
activities.

"The Grey Cup is a wonderful Canadian institution and we both have  
meaning for the Canadian population," said Captain Holly Brown,  
public affairs officer for the Canadian Forces Recruiting Group.  
"Football fans are people who enjoy outdoors adventure and sports and  
those are the people who might enjoy the Forces."

Including the Grey Cup, this year Operation Connection has set up  
displays at the Pacific National Exhibition, the Calgary Stampede and  
the Maritime Tattoo Festival.

"It is about making the Forces accessible to Canadians and  
establishing more of a connection because we are in the news a lot  
these days," said Capt. Brown. "We are trying to establish a brand  
for the forces and that involves advertising, and [Operation  
Connection] gives the public a much better idea of who we are. When  
you hear the Forces brought up in the news, you only ever hear about  
Afghanistan. We recruit to build a sustainable Forces for the future.  
We were downsized a lot in the 1990s and we need to build up again.  
Afghanistan is not all that we're about."

Last year, the Forces also got permission to break ranks with  
government protocol on Web-site style, which prescribes uniform- 
looking, largely text-based, sites with the same fonts and basic  
layout. It's relaunched Forces.ca recruiting site features dramatic  
military footage, flash graphics, interactive components and a "cool  
stuff " section that includes screen savers and games.

"[The target market for recruitment] is very tech savvy," Capt. Brown  
said.

Targeted marketing is nothing new in the Canadian military, which  
debuted a gritty series of ads last year in Atlantic Canada, an area  
that provides a disproportionate number of the military. Decried by  
one MP, who described them as pro-war "Rambo ads," the spots by  
Publicis Montreal feature scenes of combat and soldiers carrying  
guns, kicking in doors and rescuing a hostage. The new slogan, "Fight  
with the Canadian Forces," succeeded the more moderate, "Strong.  
Proud. Today's Canadian Forces."

The multi-faceted marketing efforts are clearly working. Canadian  
Forces' applications soared 40% to 40,000 in the last year and the  
military exceeded by 3% its ambitious recruiting goal of 6,400 paid  
recruits in 2006 -- up from a 5,000 target in 2005 -- and 6,000  
reservists (It netted more than 6,300.). The Forces is looking to  
hire 6,800 for the regular forces and 6,800 for the reserve this year.

"It's hard to attribute a jump like that to any one thing but [the  
collective marketing efforts] have been very well received," said  
Capt. Brown, noting the military had also eased some of the  
bureaucratic and fitness requirements to sign on with the Forces,  
deferring the latter to basic training. "We've had an incredibly  
successful recruiting year."

Companies have also started playing up the link between retail  
commerce and showing support to the troops.

Tim Hortons has offered support to our troops in its advertisements  
and opened an outlet on an airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Sport  
Chek recently sent a shipment of new hockey equipment to troops in  
Afghanistan for mid-December, including more than 200 Canadian team  
hockey jerseys. And next week, Sears Canada is erecting giant  
Christmas cards in its stores across Canada for customers to sign and  
send to Canadian Forces troops overseas.

hshaw at nationalpost.com